


In The Same Boat (Together)

by extraordinary



Category: Free!
Genre: (MENTIONS OF: Original Male Character/Matsuoka Rin), Christmas Fluff, Confessions, Get-Together-Fic, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-01-10
Updated: 2016-01-10
Packaged: 2018-05-12 23:54:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,012
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5686489
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/extraordinary/pseuds/extraordinary
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Haruka <i>really</i> needs to stop cutting Rin off all the time.</p><p>(... also known as: Christmas-in-Australia!fic for <b>theonlyparadiseisparadiselost</b>!)</p>
            </blockquote>





	In The Same Boat (Together)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [theonlyparadiseisparadiselost](https://archiveofourown.org/users/theonlyparadiseisparadiselost/gifts).



> Dear **theonlyparadiseisparadiselost** ,
> 
> I'm so, so, so, so sorry that this is so terribly late! My only excuse is that I've been busier than I've ever been before (and more writerblock'ed, too?) — but I didn't mean to leave you waiting for such a long time. To try and make it up to you, I've done my best to combine both of your prompts. Err, although I've taken the liberty of replacing Makoto with an OMC...? ^^;;
> 
> I hope you've had a great holiday season, and that your 2016 is off to a good start! And, uhm, that you might enjoy this — just a little bit?
> 
>  **TO EVERYONE ELSE:** PLEASE CHECK THE TAGS BEFORE PROCEEDING! This fic contains one-sided OC - > Rin (or more specifically: mentions thereof). It also deals with homophobic themes, although it's all very mild & I doubt it really needs to be warned for. But, y'know, just in case...?

Despite the fact that _—_ in the last hour, or so _—_ Haruka'd probably managed to put away more meat pies than he had ever thought himself capable of, there really is no shaking off the one niggling thought that's been making itself at home at the back of his mind all day:

_It doesn't feel like it's Christmas Eve at all._

It's way too hot out here, for starters, and even the sorry excuse for a snowman _—_ created out of fistfuls of wet sand _—_ Rin had practically _begged_ Haruka to help build near the shore of Bondi Beach earlier that day hadn't been able to get him into the proper mindset for the whole thing. If he were still back home in Tokyo right now, he'd probably be bundling himself up in a duffel coat and scarf, constantly keeping an eye out for a secluded spot to blow his nose (in order to avoid getting frowned at by little old ladies), and attempting to save up for the upcoming onslaught of extremely tempting _fukubukuro_.

Short sleeves, a pleasantly warm breeze, and barbecuing leisurely out in the garden really do **not** match up with Haruka's idea of an overseas Christmas at all.

That doesn't mean he isn't enjoying himself, however _._ It _is_ pretty nice out here; as long as Rin doesn't wander off too far, that is _—_ because Haruka _really_ needs him to stick close in case anyone gets it in their heads to attempt to strike up a conversation with him: despite the not-so-insignificant amount of money he's been spending on private 'Conversational English' lessons these past couple of months, heavy Australian accents will _never_ be Haruka's forte.

The long course pool back at his campus is closed for yearly maintenance right now, anyway (and hadn't Tsuzuki-buchou offhandedly mentioned something or other about the pool liner needing repairs, the very last time they'd spoken?). There's absolutely no reason for Haruka to be suffering from pool-withdrawal-symptoms back there.

Well...

That's his excuse of choice, and he's planning on sticking with it to the bitter end.

But there's also just _something_ about the way Rin's been smiling _—_ unabashedly displaying two neat rows of those intimidatingly sharp looking teeth of his _—_ ever since Haruka had agreed to fly out here for the holidays. Something that kind of makes him feel like the whole ordeal's already proved itself worth **_all_ ** of the trouble so far.

In fact, it's more than just 'nice', if Haruka's being entirely honest with himself _—_ and out here, crouched down to lazily pet Winnie's enthusiastically offered belly on the wooden beams of Russell and Lori's raised porch, he's fairly certain he can afford to be so (if only because Makoto isn't around to make any of those infuriatingly concerned little noises he's taken to producing whenever he suspects Haruka's mind has once again wandered off about 8000 kilometres southwards, this time).

Yes. He _can_ admit it to himself here: he's really missed this.

He's missed it _a lot_ _—_ getting to witness Rin's bright and unbridled smile in person, that is. Seeing it through the screen of his outdated flip-phone, or the frightfully orange tablet Nagisa accidentally-on-purpose left at the bottom of the laundry hamper the very first time he'd stayed over at Haruka's place _—_ and has consistently (and rather suspiciously) failed to reclaim _—_ just doesn't have the same effect.

Nothing quite compares to the real thing.

Haruka's pretty sure he knows what _that_ means. Actually, he's starting to suspects **everyone** who has recently spent any time around him at all knows what it means _—_ except for Rin himself, of course.

_"You'll tell him soon, won't you...?"  
_

That's what Lori had asked him (startlingly frankly) only an hour or two ago, mere moments before they'd all sat down to have dinner together (like something fundamental hadn't just shifted significantly within Haruka's tightly controlled little universe), and then proceeded to eye him searchingly from underneath the kitchen hood for an uncomfortably long moment.

He'd honestly been so thrown off by having such a serious-sounding question directed solely at him — and its multitude of possible implications — that he hadn't been able to interrupt her (or fetch Rin for help deciphering her frustratingly thick Australian accent, just in case he'd somehow managed to misunderstand her deceptively simple words, despite all of the warning bells going off in the back of his head) before she pointedly elaborated: "I probably shouldn't be meddling like this, but Haru... you know Rin's like a son to me, don't you? That's why I really think you should tell him how you feel about him — _before_ you fly out again, you know? Call it a woman's intuition."

Once he'd managed to piece together a rough translation in the back of his head (right there, underneath Lori's patient gaze), Haruka hadn't been able to come up with a suitable reply.

He'd just been caught completely unaware _._

At the time, he hadn't even considered talking to anyone about... well, about _this_.

Not even to _Makoto_ , of all people.

There'd just never been any need to discuss it before. Rin has always _— always —_ had an unprecedented effect on him: he'd unapologetically barged into Haruka's otherwise linear day-to-day life like nothing short of a tidal wave, so much so that Haruka has now become quite adept at navigating the (occasionally treacherous) currents Rin tends to leave behind in his wake whenever their paths cross. That's just the way it is.

Haruka's already _used_ to it.

It's fine.

They're fine _—_ Rin and him, that is. It'd taken years to properly smooth out the ripples that awful race back in middle school had made on the surface of their friendship, but things have honestly never been better between the two of them before.

_It's all just **fine**._

So why would Haruka want to risk rocking the boat now? He doesn't care about something as silly and fickle as _romance —_ he doesn't even want anything _more_ from Rin, to be honest. He's simply grateful for the precious, irreplaceable things he's already been given so far: unconditional friendship, the prospect of swimming together in some of the best pools in the whole wide world one day, simply being part of each other's lives again, and working towards one and the same goal together...

 _That_ is all Haruka truly wants.

In the end, he'd been forced to clumsily pretend to have forgotten absolutely _everything_ he had managed to learn from Rebecca-san (the only private tutor who hadn't simply given up on him after a handful of hours), until an unmistakably disappointed looking Lori had dropped the topic eventually _—_ and then, as soon as he'd cleared his plate enough to her reluctant satisfaction, Haruka had immediately grabbed Winnie and carried her out into the welcoming solace of the backyard.

Unfortunately Rin has never been content to allow him to retreat _anywhere_ for very long, though _—_ so it comes as no surprise at all when the heavy sliding door behind Haruka suddenly opens (and shuts again with an ominous sounding click a moment later).

"You're missing out on some absolutely _riveting_ Christmas pageant broadcast on TV, y'know?" Rin informs him, a little more cheekily than the situation really calls for, before lowering himself down into an easy squat next to Haruka and Winnie. "It's good stuff."

Haruka is fairly sure Rin isn't _really_ expecting much of a reply from him, so he simply watches in silence as Rin eagerly reaches out a hand to play with the floppy tips of Winnie's ears. Their shoulders bump each time he gives them a particularly vigorous tug.

It feels _nice_.

Undaunted by Haruka's lack of response, Rin continues teasingly: "Well, if Haru here doesn't feel like talking to me... then I might as well have a heart-to-heart with **_you_** instead _—_ right, Winnie?"

Haruka manages to hold his tongue admirably (although it takes a rather irritating amount of effort this time). Instead of responding verbally, the way Rin quite clearly is _itching_ for him to, he impulsively shuffles close enough to lightly press the side of his right arm into Rin's left one _—_ in what he hopes will come across as _some_ kind of peace offering. This, too, feels pretty nice.

Whether or not Rin successfully received the unspoken message or not, he _does_ allow them to slip into a comfortable silence. Underneath their combined attention, poor little Winnie is practically reduced to a boneless heap of coarse fur within seconds.

Much to his own surprise, it's _Haruka_ himself who actually ends up breaking the spell first _—_ he almost startles visibly when he hears the two misleadingly short little words spill from his own mouth in a rush _,_ long before he's had the time to fully register the urge to give voice to them: "Thank you." _Thank you for inviting me here, Rin._

"I didn't think you'd actually agree to come all the way out here again," Rin acknowledges quietly, and equally solemn, after a beat. "Don't get me wrong, though! I'm really fucking glad you're here, yeah?"

Winnie's ears twitch curiously underneath Rin's touch, as if she's trying to figure out if they're talking about _her —_ or any leftovers from dinner they might be planning on feeding her in the near future. Haruka's hand stills on the soft part of her belly _,_ just underneath her ribcage. He likes feeling it expand and contract with every content breath she takes; it goes a long way to soothe the sudden influx of a stubbornly unnamed emotion coiling tightly in the pit of his stomach. "I'm glad, too." _  
_

"Sometimes it just gets a little lonely, you know?" Rin tells him quietly, then, as if Haruka had asked him a question — and perhaps he **_had_** , in his own way (without even realising it). He just isn't sure he understands _the answer_. "It's not as bad the second time 'round, though..."

"You're the one who wanted to come back here," Haruka reminds him, perhaps just a touch harsher than he'd intended to. In an effort to soften the blow a little, he quickly adds: "But you'll be coming home for _Japan Swim_ in April, right?" _Permanently_.

Or as permanently as Matsuoka Rin — Olympic Swimmer in-the-making — is capable of sticking around anywhere, Haruka supposes.

"I needed to do this."

That's all Rin says.

Haruka isn't entirely sure whether it's supposed to be a response to _him_ , or if Rin is simply reminding himself by speaking the words out loud. In the end, he decides that it doesn't really matter — there's only one possible reply he can give: "We'll make it to the national team together."

"You **_bet_** _..._!" Rin agrees, practically instantaneously — and his response comes so rapidly on the heels of Haruka's unusually candid declaration that it appears to startle not just Haruka, but _both_ of them. His voice is certainly loud enough for Winnie to sleepily lift her head and shoot him a curious look, as well, but one apologetic touch from him has her closing her eyes again in contentment. "I can't wait for us to be on the same team again, Haru! No more disqualifications for us, yeah....?"

Haruka nods in agreement. He wants that, too.

In fact, he's pretty sure he wants it more than he's ever wanted **_anything_** before.

He wants to see even more of the vast world Rin so painstakingly introduced him to; to discover even more breathtaking sights he hasn't seen before, to meet new (and perhaps some not-so-new) team mates along the way there... and while it's not exactly a _requirement_ , in the strictest sense of the word, it wouldn't be the same if Rin weren't right there to share all of those things with him. They'd both worked _so hard_ to get where they are now, after all.

"Is it really that lonely?" Haruka suddenly finds himself compelled to ask, in spite of his reluctance to revisit the less pleasant part of their conversation. It's just that Rin always seems like he's got a flock of people surrounding him. Surely it can't be _that_ bad?

"I'm hardly ever _alone_ ," Rin elaborates, uncharacteristically carefully. His fingers, buried deep in Winnie's fur, have paused their ministrations. "That's not it, y'know? Coach Brown's been running my ass — well, I'm sure I don't need to tell _you_ what it's like. I've been keeping busy."

That answer is pretty much exactly what Haruka had been expecting to hear, and yet... there's just _something_ in the tone of Rin's voice that makes him feel oddly on edge — like there's something important that he's missing (and he'll only get a single chance to head back to the nearest SAVE POINT and try again).

Rin is close enough for Haruka to be able to make out the faint little noises his throat makes every time he swallows, so why does he suddenly feel _so very far away_...?

"I don't understand," Haruka decides to admit rather bluntly — mainly because he can't think of anything remotely better to say in this situation, and it's rapidly becoming clear that Rin isn't planning on continuing any time soon without being prompted. For good measure, he adds: "Just spit it out already, Rin."

"Look," Rin snaps testily (all bark, and very little bite), then abruptly turns his head to level Haruka with an uncomfortably heavy gaze. The unspoken _'you jerk!'_ hangs tangibly in the air between them. "I'm _trying_ here, OK? This isn't something I can just — _ugh!_ — 'spit out' like that! It's a little more complicated than that, all right?!"

_Complicated?_

Haruka doesn't like the sound of that at all. "You've never had trouble just spitting things out before, Rin."

Rin makes a frustrated noise in the back of his throat, but it's little more than a half-hearted (habitual) gesture. "That's because we've never _really_ talked about these things before, you idiot!" He protests, loudly enough to startle Winnie into opening one bleary eye. "You totally freaked out when I found that book underneath your bed!"

"What does _that_ have to —"

" _Dating_ , Haru!" Rin interrupts hurriedly — in a significantly quieter voice than he'd used just a couple of seconds before (as if he's worried Winnie will somehow understand just what they're discussing in front of her and take offence). He's finally resumed petting her again, now, at least. "Romance, you know? Sex...! _Those_ things!"

"Oi, Rin...!!" Haruka protests, matching the volume of Rin's voice on auto-pilot, and tries very hard to ignore the sudden heat radiating from the tips of his ears. "That's **_not_** what that book is for!"

Rin simply blinks at him in response.

Just once, at first. Then twice more.

His eyes finally widen in understanding a moment later — and _then_ , much to Haruka's rapidly rising discontent, he bursts into loud barks of unrepentant laughter.

"H-Ha... ** _ru_**...!"

"Tch. You're being _rude._ "

"S-sorry!" Rin gasps, in between exaggerated bouts of breathless wheezing. "I'm sorry, Haru! I just — I really thought _that_ 's what you were into! Why the heck d'you keep that stuff underneath your bed, then?"

"My sketchbooks are under there, too!" Haruka informs Rin balefully, and determinedly focuses all of his attention on drawing random patterns in Winnie's fur with the tip of his index finger. She must be quite accustomed to Rin randomly bursting out into laughter, because she has barely reacted to any of the noise at all. "It's convenient. There's nothing _weird_ about that, is there?"

To Haruka's relief, Rin eventually manages to calm himself down — and the strange tension that had begun to form between them has dissipated now, as well, so perhaps allowing Rin to have a good laugh at his expense had an unexpectedly positive side to it.

"Why were you so curious about what I keep under my bed, anyway?"

"I had my reasons!" Rin hastily assures him (sounding rather winded, still). "Besides, there's nothing wrong with a little curiosity — and you were being _so mysterious_ about it, Haru! You've gotta remember I'd just spent the last two years living in a dorm, yeah?"

Not buying it at all, Haruka tiredly retorts: "I suppose this is another one of those things you can't 'just spit out', then."

Rin doesn't fire back a reply immediately the way Haruka'd been expecting him to. For a moment, he's convinced Rin has one-sidedly decided to let the subject matter drop — until he hears him take a deep, almost _bracing_ , breath of warm summer air.

"I **_want_** to tell you, all right?" Rin eventually starts, albeit tentatively. His left hand, which is still resting uselessly on top of Winnie's head, twitches nervously. "I really want us to be able to talk about these things. I mean, Makoto said you wouldn't —"

"Makoto knows?"

Those two, treacherous little words are out of Haruka's mouth before he can even begin to try and swallow them back down — and much to his horror, the surprised hurt coating his voice is undeniably palpable in the resulting silence. It sounds raw and _disappointed_ , even to his own ears.

To make matters even worse, Rin practically flinches in response (and he's no longer meeting Haruka's eyes, either). "Yeah," He confirms reluctantly. "But, Haru... It's _not_ what you're thinking, OK? I made him promise not to say a word about it to you, so you shouldn't take it —"

"Fine," Haruka quickly interjects, in a last-ditch attempt to spare himself further embarrassment. "Makoto's easier to talk to. _It's **fine** , Rin_."

But to Haruka's surprise, Rin merely lets out a displeased noise in disagreement. "So, you're not angry at him for keeping this from you...?"

Beginning to grow a little weary of constantly needing to correct Rin's various misconceptions, Haruka merely opts to shake his head — but when it inevitably becomes clear that Rin is waiting for _some_ kind of response (before allowing them to properly move on), he reluctantly questions: "What did Makoto say?"

Rin takes an unnecessarily long time to mull over his response, and his voice is unsettlingly quiet when he does finally speak up. "He said you wouldn't think differently of me for — _kind of_ — dating another guy."

_Rin is dating another guy?_

"'Kind of'?"

"I'm not sure yet, OK?!" Rin immediately fires back. He's self-consciously scratching the back of his neck, now — and resolutely avoiding Haruka's increasingly confused gaze. "I told him I'd think about it, y'know?"

Haruka is suddenly starting to feel a little on the light-headed side (and he's having quite a bit of trouble keeping his breathing slow and steady), but the need to try and alleviate Rin's obvious (and steadily increasing) anxiety goes a long way to help ground him. "Makoto was right."

"I didn't really think you _would,_ " Rin says, after another long pause, in a very small voice. "I just — _ugh!_ — you know what I get like sometimes, right?"

"Hn..." _I know_.

"Thanks, Haru."

As if somehow being able to sense that they could use some time alone, Winnie abruptly shakes off both of their hands and scampers further out into the garden. Dazedly staring after her, Haruka lets his hand fall down to the wooden beams of the porch with a dull _thud_. He feels like there's something more he should be saying to Rin right about now, before it's too late, but he's never been very good at expressing himself — and he doesn't know for sure what the tight feeling in his chest and abdomen means, anyway.

Is he nervous? Or is he simply feeling ** _jealous_**...?

Maybe _this_ is what Lori was — way too subtly — trying to warn him about before dinner.

Should he trust her judgement and risk making everything extremely awkward between the two of them, on the off-chance that being honest with Rin about how he really feels isn't an absolutely horrible idea after all? Women's intuition, she'd called it.

"Rin —"

"Could you just stop fucking _looking at me_ for a second, Haru?!"

"Sorry," Haru says automatically, then frowns at himself for complying _so shamefully easily —_ and he's completely lost his nerve now, to top things off. "Better?"

"Thank you," Rin allows faux-haughtily, and in a strangely warped echo of Haruka's earlier words, as he apologetically curls the fingers of his left hand around Haruka's right wrist. "Don't go anywhere, OK? I'm not done talking yet."

"All right," Haruka says, surprisingly agreeably — because there's very little _else_ he can say right now, and Rin's touch is like an anchor (weighing all of Haruka's rapidly accumulating intentions down to the wooden floorboards underneath them).

"I just — I wanted to know what _you_ think about all of this, Haru. You're pretty much in the same boat as I am, y'know? Makoto's a great sounding board, and all, but he's not actually _living_ this the way you and I are."

"Going Olympic?" Haruka guesses distractedly, all the while trying not to stare _too_ intently at all the places where Rin's tanned fingers meet the contrastingly pale skin on the inside of his wrist.

"Yeah," Rin confirms quickly, sounding irritatingly relieved that Haruka managed to understand without needing an explanation this time. "I mean... getting involved with someone like us comes with a lot of extra shit, doesn't it? I wasn't actually planning on staying _here_ indefinitely, either — I want to go **home** soon."

"Do you —" Haruka starts bravely, but his throat tightens painfully before he can finish his question. Instead of making another embarrassing attempt at getting any more treacherous words out, he not-so-bravely settles for simply fixing Rin with a heavy gaze.

"Do I _like_ him?"

Haruka still isn't sure if he really **_wants_** to know the answer to that, but he reluctantly nods his head anyway. "So...?"

"I don't know," Rin admits, surprisingly readily. He's the one staring down at his grip around Haruka's wrist with an eerily thoughtful look on his face, now, as if he's convinced his gradually whitening knuckles will display the answers he's looking for if he just peers down at them long enough. "Not as much as I probably should. He's all right, you know? But he's not — I just thought I should give it some consideration. He's pretty serious about this."

Haruka frowns. "But he's not _a swimmer_."

"Figures that'd be one of _your_ requirements," Rin teases, albeit fondly. It takes him a while, but he does eventually lift his head to bestow Haruka with a startingly affectionate smile. "What about the rest, then? C'mon, it's Christmas, Haru — you've gotta humour me here!"

"I've never really thought about it before."

"Then you'll just have to think about it **_now_**!"

"I'd rather not."

As expected, Rin scoffs — hard enough for the resulting puff of air to displace most of the strands of his fringe — but the scowl on his face is an undeniably forced one. "I can't believe you're such a _spoil sport,_ Nanase."

"So he's just waiting for you to figure it out?" Haruka forces himself to ask, as soon as he's regained enough control over the uninvited _hope_ wrapping itself insistently around his rapidly beating heart. The unexpected use of his surname had very nearly thrown him off balance, as well. "Sounds like an all right guy, I guess."

"Yeah," Rin agrees, although he doesn't sound very enthusiastic about it. "I just don't want anyone to get hurt, you know? He's never even been to Japan! What if he can't get used to the way things are done back home? He even says he'd like to be in it for the long haul — but I don't think it'd be fair to him at all! Everything's just _so different_ in Australia, isn't it?"

"If you get caught..." Haruka half-warns, guiltily letting the end of his sentence trail off into what's probably best described as a purposeful silence. The words he does manage to grind out between his clenched teeth leave a nasty after-taste behind. He doesn't want anything like _that_ to happen to Rin.

"It'd end my career."

Rin's words are undeniably final. Haruka tries not to let the relief show on his face — or pay any attention to the stern voice in the back of his head (which sounds suspiciously like Yamazaki's low drawl) reminding him that, _'it wouldn't have to; if he just swam for Australia instead.'_

"Maybe you should try talking to Lori about all of this?" He asks, in a not-so-subtle bid to change the subject. Rin simply **belongs** in a red, white and black jersey; and Haruka'd be damned if he ever so much as entertained the thought of Rin giving up his Japanese citizenship (and, to his palpable relief, Rin clearly feels the same way about the matter). "I'm not good at this kind of stuff, Rin."

"You're not going to freak out if I tell you I already have, right?" Rin asks playfully, before uncurling his fingers from Haruka's wrist and unabashedly sliding his open palm into Haruka's. "I swear, it was just _her_... and Makoto! No one else, OK? I know it looks like I've been shouting it off the rooftops, but —"

"You didn't tell Yamazaki?" Haruka barely hears himself ask, even though that isn't what he really wants to know at all, over the nearly overwhelming roar of his own heartbeat rushing through his ears. His face probably looks really stupid right about now, too.

"Sousuke's a given," Rin starts carefully, eyeing Haruka closely from underneath the red shock of his fringe. "But that's _everyone,_ you weirdo! Why d'you even —"

"You already talked to Lori?" Haruka interrupts in a hurry, unconsciously squeezing Rin's hand like a lifeline. His head is buzzing with half-formed, rushed explanations and back-up plans.

"Yeah!" Rin insists, looking more bewildered by the second. "What the fuck's gotten into you, Haru? Stop cutting me off like that!"

"Did you tell her anything else?"

"W-What?!"

"Did you tell her something else — something about me?" _You've **got** to be honest with me now, Rin!_

Rin's eyes widen, just for a fraction of a second, before he quickly glances away. "Why're you asking me about that all of a sudden?"

"I thought you wanted to talk to me about these things!" Haruka tries, albeit a little desperately. His voice sounds embarrassingly high-pitched, and his hands are beginning to feel a little sweaty. " _'Humour me'_ , Rin...!"

"I think I've had enough _talking_ for tonight," Rin half-whispers, half-growls. He makes a half-hearted attempt to tug his hand out of Haruka's grip, but Haruka knows better than to let go by now. He's seen enough of Rin's retreating back to last him an entire lifetime. "Now, would you mind giving me my hand back? I'm going inside."

"No."

"'No'...?" Rin echoes, eyes flashing and nostrils flaring in an unmistakable warning.

" _No!_ " Haruka insists heatedly. He's never been afraid of Rin's anger before, and he's certainly not about to start now; not when Rin looks far more like a frightened, cornered animal than the predator he's unconsciously trying to mimic. "What are you so scared of, Rin?"

"I'm not scared, you idiot!" Rin retorts angrily, in a weird mixture between a hoarse shout and a whisper that makes all the hairs on Haruka's bare arms stand on end. He clearly doesn't want to risk drawing any unwanted attention to their argument — but Winnie's already curiously trotting back over to them now to inspect their joined (sweaty) hands, and she looks like she might begin barking at them any minute. "I'm fucking _terrified_!"

Haruka's mouth snaps shut with an audible click.

Rin is right. This _is_ terrifying.

Reaching out to pet Winnie's nuzzle with his free hand, Haruka gives himself a brief moment to gather his bearings before promptly diving in: "I'm a swimmer," He starts earnestly, and stubbornly raises his chin to meet Rin's increasingly bewildered gaze head-on. "I've been to Japan, and I'd — Rin, you've _got_ to know I'd be in it for the long haul."

Rin's face has gone very pale. "If this is a joke —"

Haruka's not about to dignify that with a response. Instead, he gives Rin's limp palm a probing squeeze. "Would you consider it?"

"How could you have _possibly_ known what I said to Lori, Haru...?!" Rin demands to know, instead. He's sounding oddly winded in the relative silence of the garden, despite the fact that he's still (partially) sitting down. "You hadn't even landed yet!"

"I didn't!" Haruka admits, a little on the hesitant side, but steadfastly refuses to back down. "But I'm not **wrong** about it, am I?"

For a moment, Rin appears frozen in place by Haruka's questioning gaze — until he suddenly lets the breath he'd been holding escape between them in an unsteady exhale, and reluctantly lowers himself back down on the porch completely (and significantly _closer_ to Haruka than he'd been sitting before). "Why didn't you _say_ anything, you idiot...? It can't have been pleasant to listen to me blabber on about dating some other guy."

It's Haruka's turn to look away, now. "It wasn't _that_ bad."

"Sounds like you're an all right guy, huh?" Rin observes gently, then, and pointedly nudges their shoulders together in a failed attempt to get Haruka to look at him again. "But is this really what you _want_ , Haru? It's not going to be easy — you know that, don't you?"

There's probably close to a million things Haruka could — or **_should_** — say in response to that question, but all that comes out is: "We won't get caught."

Next to him, Rin audibly swallows down a surprised (and suspiciously wet) chuckle. "Is that your way of telling me you're serious about this, then?"

"Yes," Haruka agrees, and is relieved to find that he can finally meet Rin's eyes again. "So, will you consider it?"

Now he's actually _looking_ at Rin again, it's suddenly impossible to miss the dazzling smile threatening to overwhelm his entire face.

"Well," Rin starts mischievously, and gives Haruka's hand a meaningful squeeze. "We're already holding hands, aren't we?"

Haruka smiles, squeezing back, and scoops a terribly neglected looking Winnie into his lap with his free hand. "Don't worry," He tells Rin, when the excited ball of fur in his lap has properly settled down. "I'll make an honest man out of you, Rin."

 

**Author's Note:**

> Little do they know, Lori's eagerly waiting for them to come back inside (with mistletoe). 
> 
>  **P.S.** I HOPE IT'S CLEAR WHAT RIN TOLD LORI ABOUT HARUKA TBH IF IT'S NOT CLEAR I WILL CRY A LOT AND FEEL VERY BAD. But, uhm, ask me about it! If I didn't make it obvious enough. ^^;


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